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Week 11 - Sunday 20th November 2005 |
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I don't buy all this could've been 9-1, could've been 6-4 baloney. In the NFL you are going to get close games and yep, even close games with teams you expect to beat. The difference between good teams and bad teams is that good teams win more of them than the bad teams.
The bottom line is that the Seahawks are 8-2 and next week could conceivably be the first NFL team to guarantee a spot in the play offs. A feat not achieved last year until the final play of the final game of the regular season.
For most of Sunday's game it looked like a routine, efficient road victory until something went haywire in the 4th quarter and we had our third close encounter of the season.
There were no real signs of what was to come on the Seahawks first drive as Hasselbeck picked apart the 49ers defence and Shaun got his running game going as we advanced to first and goal at the 8. The Seahawks lead the NFL in red zone conversions but we came up short on this occasion getting the ball to the 3 before electing to kick the field goal. I guess that's what the coaching manual says but we are so good so close to the line that I'd like to have seen us go for it to send out a signal to the 49ers if nothing else. As it happened the 3 points would prove useful later.
The 49ers then followed the pattern of many teams against the Seahawks recently. They were able to move the ball fairly freely into our own red zone but once they were there they couldn't convert and settled for a field goal. They did the same 3 more times and right up until the 4th quarter they only had 12 points.
A sack split between rookies LeRoy Hill and Lofa Tatupu gave the Seahawks good field position and it took 2 completions to Bobby Engram together with 2 runs by Alexander for the Seahawks to find the end zone with Alexander applying the finishing touch from 8 yards. 10-3 Seahawks.
I'll spare you the details of every 49er drive (see above) but suffice to say Ken Dorsey was having a better game than I thought possible in moving the ball but all of their possessions ended up with someone kicking the ball.
On the next Seahawks drive Alexander got the ball 5 times and moved it 25 yards including a big 3rd and 1. Make a note of that because there will be a 'Holmgren Test' later! It was finished off with a pass to DJ Hackett standing all alone in the back of the end zone and 17-6 to the Seahawks. Hackett had another good day with 6 catches for 67 yards.
Another 49er field goal made in 17-9 at the half but not before Peter Warrick had dropped a pass that he could have taken a long way. The 'ultra reliable' catcher was not given another chance to catch a pass for the rest of the day.
Josh Brown missed a 51 yard field goal attempt and his 3rd miss of the season. As long as he makes the ones that matter from here on in I'll be happy enough but it allowed the 49ers to pull within 5 points as Nedney proved more reliable admittedly from closer in.
If I recall correctly the first encounter of a close kind is seeing something at distance, the second is seeing physical evidence up close and the third is meeting. Shaun Alexander gave them all 3 on the next drive. He broke the line and was last seen heading into the distance. The 49ers thought they had him but were left examining their hands for jersey fibre evidence that he sure had been here but he wasn't anymore. Contact finally came 40 yards downfield.
Jurevicius then had a TD taken away from him on a challenge as he was ruled down just short and there were yawns all around the chat room as Shaun went in behind Walt Jones for the score and 24-12.
Things got even better as Marquand Manual forced a fumble on the kick off which Josh Scobee recovered at the 31. Scobee is one player who has improved special teams with some decent returns and good coverage.
If we thought it was all over we were wrong as we couldn't move the ball and settled for a 47 yard field goal. Still 27-12 against a team who hadn't scored a touchdown since the leaves were all still on the trees looked safe enough.
It's not the first time we've sat back on a lead in the 4th quarter and I suspect it won't be the last but it's something we've got to address because whatever we are doing is not working. The only thing that took the pain away was Steve Raible's radio commentary which left you unable to work out if the play had gone for 1 yard or 30. Sadly all too often it was the latter variety.
Dorsey eventually had enough time to find Brandon Lloyd for a 22 yard score and a slightly nervy 27-19.
Still, we'd control the ball on the ground, run some time off the clock and score again wouldn't we? Well no as in three 4th quarter possessions we gave the ball to Shaun just 3 times as Holmgren got pass happy. That should read incomplete pass happy. The 'Holmgren test' is why does he do that?
It all served up a potential game tying possession with 6 minutes remaining. The drive included 2 3rd and long completions and ended up at the Seahawk 1 with 30 seconds remaining. Hicks was held short as the clock ran but the play was reviewed and given as a TD with 6 points and time back on the clock.
The 2 point conversion would tie it and a pass was called but with Rocky Bernard causing pressure on Dorsey the pass was away and short and we all breathed a collective sigh of relief. Or at least we did until we realised there was still time for an onside kick but it was captured safely by Manuel.
Rocky had already made 2 big sacks on the day to see him and Bryce Fisher joint 7th in the NFL sacks table. He then came up big on the 2 point attempt and it was fitting that he should play a major part in ensuring that on this encounter there was no contact of the third kind as far as the scores were concerned.
Andrew Robinson (HawksHead)
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